God’s Covenants

Subtopics

The Bible teaches that God deals with man by means of a covenant relationship. All the leading covenants in the Bible between God and believing man are aspects of a single covenant relationship.... the Abrahamic covenant, the Mosaic covenant, the Davidic covenant, the New Covenant, and so forth (all which are conditional). The Old Covenant and the New Covenant are not descriptions of certain "dispensations" or time periods. Rather, they are subjective states of man's relation to God in both the Old and New Testaments - and today. Since subsequent administrations assume and build on the terms of preceding administrations in a historical redemptive sense, the conditions of the earlier covenants also apply to the latter covenants. The culmination of all the covenant administrations is the administration under Christ who alone fulfilled these conditions. Christ himself had to die to fulfill the terms of the covenant from our side, making a new covenant with those he came to save (also a conditional administration since it applies only to those who exercize faith in Christ). This in no terms means we are able earn salvation on our own; no matter which covenant administration we fall under, we fail to keep its terms. The human requirements stipulated in the covenant are never met perfectly (even the requirement of faith itself), accept in Christ. Thus, we always rely on God's grace and forgiveness alone in order to receive his covenant blessings to us.